The invention relates to devices for preventing accidental firing of firearms, commonly referred to in the patents as safety devices, and it relates more particularly to devices for positively blocking the firing pin in firearms of the type which have a reciprocating breech-bolt that is enclosed within the receiver or housing. Such firearms include, for example, automatic shotguns and rifles as well as manually operating repeating firearms, such as slide-actions which are frequently referred to as pump-actions.
Most, if not all, firearms manufactured today are provided with means for locking the firing mechanism in order to reduce the chances of the firearm being accidentally discharged. In some cases the trigger is blocked so that it can not be retracted far enough to release the firing member. Where the firing mechanism includes a separate sear member, some means may be provided for locking the sear in engagement with the cocked hammer or striker, in order to prevent its release until the sear is unlocked. A more positive way of preventing accidental discharge of a firearm is to provide means for blocking the firing member itself, so that it can not engage the primer in the cartridge. However, in the type of gun which has a reciprocating breech-bolt that is enclosed within the receiver, as for example in the autoloading shotgun shown in the U.S. patent to Liedke U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,996, there is little or no access to the bolt for manually blocking the firing pin due to the fact that it is carried on, and reciprocates with the bolt. In fact to my knowledge, no means have ever been devised for locking and unlocking the firing pin by hand in this type of firearm.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a firing-pin safety device for such firearms in which a finger piece is provided on the outside of the receiver and is so arranged that when the action is closed, the firing pin can be locked or unlocked, respectively, by manually moving the finger piece on its "on" or "off" positions.